Break-Ups: The New Route to Musical Success
August 30th, 2007 by jeff
With all the recent reunion tours - Van Halen, the Police, Crowded House, the Rolling Stones…wait - it seems like everyone is burying the hatchet and re-forming for big tours and all kinds of accolades. I’ve never been a big Sonic Youth fan, but it seems guitarist Thurston Moore feels their biggest mistake as a band was not breaking up so they could cash in with a reunion tour.
The Pixies reunion was a real success, and Dinosaur Jr. seems like a big success, and both those bands play as good as they ever did. Mission Of Burma blew my mind when they came back. But a band like us never did break up. Which was to our own detriment. What would have happened if we did break up after (classic 1988 double album) Daydream Nation - or even after (1990’s) Dirty - and had gotten back together two years ago? You’d be interviewing me at the Chateau Marmont as I’m waiting for my limousine. We probably would have made so much money. This was our biggest career faux-pas - not breaking up.
I would find this funny if it weren’t so astute. This is not to say that if Sonic Youth broke up and reunited a few years later stadiums full of people would stand in awe of their decision. This is Sonic Youth after all. They were never terribly popular to begin with.
BUT, Moore is right that their overall financial success might have been greater had they disappeared long enough for their fans to start wondering where they went and jonesing for an SY fix.
Kinda sad that people’s attention spans have gotten so short that they need a major announcement to get any kind of reaction. I wonder if, eventually, people will become so inundated with information that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse could ride through their living rooms and all they would do is shrug and continue surfing the net.
[source]
That’s what I’m gonna do if any kind of horsemen come through my living room…unless they have beer.
:-)